TNT has big booth decision to make
Bob Pockrass
Bob Pockrass began covering NASCAR in 1992, primarily covering short-track racing and events. He has worked for Street & Smith's Motorsports Group since 2003.
CONCORD, N.C. – Fans know that Mike Joy will be doing play-by-play for the first 13 races of the Sprint Cup season on Fox and Marty Reid will be doing the last 17 on ABC/ESPN.
What about the six in between, those six TNT races? No decision has been made yet, according to Turner Sports executive producer Jeff Behnke. Bill Weber, who was replaced midway through last season, is no longer with Turner.
Behnke said Ralph Shaheen “did a great job for the three races that he filled in” but added that there are several candidates. TNT will do mock broadcasts during the early part of the season to get Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach used to the new play-by-play announcer. The rest of the announcing team, including Larry MacReynolds, will return.
“We don’t ever want our announcers to be the story,” Behnke said. “One of the key components of a play-by-play person is to be journalistically sound. We want the race to come to us, get us from here, get us to there and let Kyle, Wally and Larry Mac to do their thing.
“There are a lot of great voices out there. You want NASCAR fans to be familiar with [the voice], but over time, whoever we pick will grow to know that person just like they did in years past.”
And just so you know, Petty isn’t applying for the job.
“I would never do what those guys would do,” Petty said. “Those guys are good.”
That’s true. And that’s why TNT has a big decision ahead for its six-race NASCAR schedule.
